1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to cartons fabricated from paper, paperboard and/or corrugated paperboard material, particularly collapsible bulk bin containers.
2. Background Art
Bulk bins fabricated from paperboard, particularly corrugated paperboard are known. Many of these bulk bins are fabricated so that they may be collapsed after use, shipped back to their original loading point, and re-used.
A typical collapsible bulk bin construction will be a bin that has eight side walls, four “long” side walls, and four “short” side walls, disposed in alternating fashion along a blank. Usually, one of the “short” side walls will be formed from two “half” panels, located at the ends of the blank, each of which has a width which is greater than one-half the width of a “short” side wall. Bottom closure flaps, which are die cut separate from one another, emanate from the bottom edges of each of the panels that form the long and short side walls. Each of the bottom closure flaps typically has a width corresponding to its respective side wall panels. To form the bulk bin, the blank will be turned upon itself so that the free edges of the long side wall halves overlap. These panels will be affixed to one another, e.g., by staples or adhesive, so that the folded blank has formed a tube. The bottom closure flaps are folded inwardly to overlap one another and form the bottom of the bin. The bin may be placed on a pallet or slip sheet for transportation purposes.
Although some of these bins can be quite strong, it has been a challenge in the industry to provide a collapsible bulk bin which is capable of holding a load in excess of 2000 pounds. Such prior art bins may be susceptible to failure, which is believed to be caused by the presence of the slots and gaps that are formed in the bottom, as a result of the use of the separately emanating overlapping bottom flaps. Therefore, in order to support such loads, the bulk bins may have to be provided with additional support, in the form of external bands, which may be fabricated from metal or plastic material, which add to the cost of the bin, and which complicate its use.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a collapsible bulk bin which is capable of withstanding heavy loading with reduced likelihood of failure, and without requiring the addition of further structural support, such as external banding.
These and other desirable characteristics of the invention will become apparent in view of the present specification, claims and drawings.